Book Reviews

You may wonder why we are buying these books if I get them free for reviewing?

Here’s the thing. I’d have to double check the percentages, but I’d go out on a limb and say 60% of the books I review are sent to me are uncorrected versions, not the final product. If I love them, I usually want a hard copy or audio version (maybe both!)

In the spirit of full disclosure, you kind readers supplied us with over $200 in book funds in 2018. Clicking those links to Amazon puts a real dent in supporting this site (and enables my book buying habit)- so Thank YOU!

Epic.

Loyal, Brave, Kind and True - Keeper of the Old and New -I Guard the Wild,Defend the Weak,Mark the PathAnd Virtue Seek.Forest Spirits Hear Me NowAs I Speak My Ranger's Vow.

Bonus points for the real-life setting.

you've got magic and a bit of Night at the Museum vibe. I adored it. Humans and the people in the paintings are not allowed to interact, but luckily for us readers that rule is broken, and they do.

This story could be an instant classic

Anyone who has fought their way back from the edge of grief will recognize the themes immediately. The universe is so different from ours and yet so eerily familiar. The writing will suck you into this weird, beautiful, and mysterious world.

Should be a movie.

They think they won a contest, turns out they are a part of a major event..or rather they are chosen to help stop this major event...a volcano eruption that will create massive destruction to the Earth.

Evangeline and the world of the Bayou are enchanting.

Evangeline is waiting on her haunt huntress powers to show up. Her Gran has assured her it will happen soon and has been training Evangeline her whole life. When it does happen we readers get to go along on her first adventure.

Classic horror story with a twist

Probably an unconventional pairing, but reading this with Good Omens, and maybe some C.S. Lewis would make for some fun discussions about how quickly we humans can be tricked into almost anything by the supernatural or other humans.

Chicago Dwarf Kid FTW

Yeah, like LOTR dwarves (only not really, cause that movie uses racial stereotyping ) and there are Elves too. Geographically speaking Chicago is correctly portrayed and I know look at all famous Chicagoans and judge whether they are elves or dwarves.

A peek into Social Media

Mari decides to unplug and hike the John Muir Trail leaving her social media behind. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Other hikers have not given up their social media and it turns out she can’t even hide in the woods. Her journey through the grief of losing her cousin and for the first time realizing that life is more than just “likes” is agonizing to watch- but, worth it.

A sort of modern Hansel and Gretel

Alex is being kept prisoner by a witch in an apartment full of books. That didn’t sound terrible to me. Until the plot twist that included him telling her a story each night in exchange for his life. We listened to this one on Audible and it was perfectly suspenseful in all the best ways.

Zoey tries to blend

in with the other girls her age but, she barely has time for homework as she takes care of her three younger siblings while her Mom works. She literally feels like an octopus. This story of breaking away from a dysfunctional way of life, and wanting a different kind of future for yourself will resonate with many Middle- Grade kids.

Mayan Myths

Brought to you by Rick Riordan in the spirit of Percy Jackson- Meet Zane, his dog, the goddess of chocolate- and the rest of the cast pulled from Mayan Mythology. Like Riordan books this one is set now with a demigod main character. We listened to this one on Audible also.

After almost

dying

Cassidy can see dead people. And it is awesomely cool and scary all at once. Being able to cross the veil is a side effect of her experience and she isn’t quite sure why its happening or what she should be doing about it. I loved the side plot of her parents being TV ghost hunters all the while she is actually best friends with a ghost. Twitter tells me that I version of this story is going to be made into a TV series and that there are a couple more books scheduled to be released to continue Cassie’s adventures.

Dark &

Twisty

One day Alice comes home from school to find her mother missing and a passage from one of her grandmother's stories lying in her bed. Thus begins her adventures in not only searching for her Mom, but trying to learn more about The Hinter Land (a book of fairy tales her Grandmother wrote)and why her Mom never spoke of it.

I'm a lifelong bibliophile who happens to love children's books and who should have become a librarian. Instead I horde books in case of apocalypse or the enactment of a Fahrenheit 451 type law. My five kids accept my addiction and have learned to accept books in odd places.